Opinion: Moyes The Right Man

Reds legend Denis Irwin believes Manchester United have got the perfect man to take over and continue Sir Alex’s 26 years of success…

I think bringing in David Moyes is a fantastic move, I really do. He is a manager who is going to bring stability to the club. He is very much in the mould of Sir Alex, a Scotsman with a great worth ethic and he’ll demand that the players work hard to be successful.

He has done a fantastic job at Everton with limited resources. A lot of pundits have said that he hasn’t won anything, but he hasn’t had the resources to win anything. Hopefully at Manchester United he has the resources and he will be challenging. He has bigger resources now and it’s a challenge for him but he knows that. Whoever got the job after Sir Alex was never going to find it easy, but he has signed a six-year contract which gives him time.

Everybody might need to show a bit of patience. There’s no doubt that he might have a few bad games as a new manager, but you just need to show patience and Manchester United are very good at that. He had 11 years at Everton and did an unbelievably good job there.

I know all about Sir Alex’s desire and his work ethic and I think David Moyes will be a very similar manager for Manchester United. You see him on the touchline and he is a tough old Scot, very much like Sir Alex. He was recommended by Sir Alex and Sir Bobby Charlton and there’s no higher accolade. He tried to get him in 1998 as assistant manager after he did a fantastic job at Preston. Then he went to Everton and had 11 great years there. He will be sorely missed there, which shows his influence.He will bring stability to the club at an important time for the club with Sir Alex departing and David Gill going as well. So it’s important that we have stability. We have a fantastic first-team squad and I am sure David Moyes will add to that in the summer.

Sir Alex was here for 26 years and you look at the trophies he won and the way his teams played… young supporters know no different. I wouldn’t say the David will change too much, too soon. I think he’ll look at it and add his own style and personality to the team. But I think what the club is looking at is for David to come in and continue the work Sir Alex has done.

We all look forward to him coming to Old Trafford. He starts on 1 July and he has got two games with Everton to finish off the season, then he can concentrate on things here, bringing his own players and stamping his authority. It’s a challenge, but as a player you want to play for the best club in the world, and as a manager you will feel exactly the same. It’s an opportunity that doesn’t come along very often and he will be really looking forward to it.

Denis Irwin was speaking exclusively to MUTV.